Parallel update to NVRAM

ABSTRACT

A method for updates in a storage system is provided. The method includes writing identifiers, associated with data to be stored, to storage units of the storage system and writing trim records indicative of identifiers that are allowed to not exist in the storage system to the storage units. The method includes determining whether stored data corresponding to records of identifiers is valid based on the records of the identifiers and the trim records.

BACKGROUND

Solid-state memory, such as flash, is currently in use in solid-state drives (SSD) to augment or replace conventional hard disk drives (HDD), writable CD (compact disk) or writable DVD (digital versatile disk) drives, collectively known as spinning media, and tape drives, for storage of large amounts of data. Flash and other solid-state memories have characteristics that differ from spinning media. Yet, many solid-state drives are designed to conform to hard disk drive standards for compatibility reasons, which makes it difficult to provide enhanced features or take advantage of unique aspects of flash and other solid-state memory.

It is within this context that the embodiments arise.

SUMMARY

In some embodiments, a method for updates in a storage system is provided. The method includes writing identifiers relating to updates to storage units of the storage system and writing trim records indicative of identifiers that are allowed to not exist in the storage system, to the storage units. The identifiers are associated with data to be stored in the storage system. The method includes determining whether the stored data corresponding to records of sequence numbers is valid based on the records of the sequence numbers and the trim records. In some embodiments the identifiers are sequence numbers.

In some embodiments, a method for updates in a storage system is provided. The method includes writing to memory of one of a plurality of storage nodes a plurality identifiers that identify data relative to updates to one or more storage units of the storage system and writing one or more trim records to the memory, each of the one or more trim records indicating an identifier that is allowed to not exist. The plurality of identifiers and the one or more trim records, in combination with identifiers and trim records of others of the plurality of storage nodes, indicate whether any storage units of the storage system includes corrupted data. In some embodiments the identifiers are sequence numbers.

In some embodiments, a storage cluster is provided. The storage cluster includes a plurality of storage nodes coupled together as the storage cluster and a plurality of storage units, each having storage memory. The plurality of storage nodes is configured to record identifiers that identify data for updates to the plurality of storage units. The plurality of storage nodes is further configured to record trim records indicating which identifiers are allowed to not exist, wherein consistency among the identifiers and the trim records indicates corrupt-free updates to data within the plurality of storage units. In some embodiments the identifiers are sequence numbers.

Other aspects and advantages of the embodiments will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the described embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The described embodiments and the advantages thereof may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. These drawings in no way limit any changes in form and detail that may be made to the described embodiments by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the described embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a storage cluster with multiple storage nodes and internal storage coupled to each storage node to provide network attached storage, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an interconnect switch coupling multiple storage nodes in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a multiple level block diagram, showing contents of a storage node and contents of one of the non-volatile solid state storage units in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a task diagram, showing tasks that an authority, belonging to a storage node, performs in support of an operation for updating the NVRAM of a storage unit.

FIG. 5 illustrates sequence numbers and read dependencies, which an authority develops in support of operations and routes to storage nodes and storage units, where the sequence numbers and read dependencies are recorded.

FIG. 6 illustrates missing sequence numbers and trim records that indicate missing sequence numbers, as can be used in determining various aspects for system health and recovery.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a method for updates in a storage system, which supports parallel update to NVRAM of storage units.

FIG. 8 is an illustration showing an exemplary computing device which may implement the embodiments described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A storage cluster has storage nodes, and storage units with storage memory, and supports parallel updates to memory for writing or reading storage memory. Authorities in storage nodes develop identifiers or sequence numbers with read dependencies, in support of operations to memory. Identifiers or sequence numbers identify data to be stored in the storage cluster. Sequence numbers and read dependencies are recorded in storage units. Storage nodes can determine whether sequence numbers are missing and then write trim records to so indicate and/or determine whether the system is consistent or corrupted. Embodiments of storage clusters, storage nodes, storage units and authorities are described with reference to FIGS. 1-3. Handling of sequence numbers in support of parallel updates is described with reference to FIGS. 4-7.

The embodiments below describe a storage cluster that stores user data, such as user data originating from one or more user or client systems or other sources external to the storage cluster. The storage cluster distributes user data across storage nodes housed within a chassis, using erasure coding and redundant copies of metadata. Erasure coding refers to a method of data protection or reconstruction in which data is stored across a set of different locations, such as disks, storage nodes or geographic locations. Flash memory is one type of solid-state memory that may be integrated with the embodiments, although the embodiments may be extended to other types of solid-state memory or other storage medium, including non-solid state memory. Control of storage locations and workloads are distributed across the storage locations in a clustered peer-to-peer system. Tasks such as mediating communications between the various storage nodes, detecting when a storage node has become unavailable, and balancing I/Os (inputs and outputs) across the various storage nodes, are all handled on a distributed basis. Data is laid out or distributed across multiple storage nodes in data fragments or stripes that support data recovery in some embodiments. Ownership of data can be reassigned within a cluster, independent of input and output patterns. This architecture described in more detail below allows a storage node in the cluster to fail, with the system remaining operational, since the data can be reconstructed from other storage nodes and thus remain available for input and output operations. In various embodiments, a storage node may be referred to as a cluster node, a blade, or a server.

The storage cluster is contained within a chassis, i.e., an enclosure housing one or more storage nodes. A mechanism to provide power to each storage node, such as a power distribution bus, and a communication mechanism, such as a communication bus that enables communication between the storage nodes are included within the chassis. The storage cluster can run as an independent system in one location according to some embodiments. In one embodiment, a chassis contains at least two instances of both the power distribution and the communication bus which may be enabled or disabled independently. The internal communication bus may be an Ethernet bus, however, other technologies such as Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express, InfiniBand, and others, are equally suitable. The chassis provides a port for an external communication bus for enabling communication between multiple chassis, directly or through a switch, and with client systems. The external communication may use a technology such as Ethernet, InfiniBand, Fibre Channel, etc. In some embodiments, the external communication bus uses different communication bus technologies for inter-chassis and client communication. If a switch is deployed within or between chassis, the switch may act as a translation between multiple protocols or technologies. When multiple chassis are connected to define a storage cluster, the storage cluster may be accessed by a client using either proprietary interfaces or standard interfaces such as network file system (NFS), common internet file system (CIFS), small computer system interface (SCSI) or hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). Translation from the client protocol may occur at the switch, chassis external communication bus or within each storage node.

Each storage node may be one or more storage servers and each storage server is connected to one or more non-volatile solid state memory units, which may be referred to as storage units. One embodiment includes a single storage server in each storage node and between one to eight non-volatile solid state memory units, however this one example is not meant to be limiting. The storage server may include a processor, dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and interfaces for the internal communication bus and power distribution for each of the power buses. Inside the storage node, the interfaces and storage unit share a communication bus, e.g., PCI Express, in some embodiments. The non-volatile solid state memory units may directly access the internal communication bus interface through a storage node communication bus, or request the storage node to access the bus interface. The non-volatile solid state memory unit contains an embedded central processing unit (CPU), solid state storage controller, and a quantity of solid state mass storage, e.g., between 2-32 terabytes (TB) in some embodiments. An embedded volatile storage medium, such as DRAM, and an energy reserve apparatus are included in the non-volatile solid state memory unit. In some embodiments, the energy reserve apparatus is a capacitor, super-capacitor, or battery that enables transferring a subset of DRAM contents to a stable storage medium in the case of power loss. In some embodiments, the non-volatile solid state memory unit is constructed with a storage class memory, such as phase change or magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) that substitutes for DRAM and enables a reduced power hold-up apparatus.

One of many features of the storage nodes and non-volatile solid state storage is the ability to proactively rebuild data in a storage cluster. The storage nodes and non-volatile solid state storage can determine when a storage node or non-volatile solid state storage in the storage cluster is unreachable, independent of whether there is an attempt to read data involving that storage node or non-volatile solid state storage. The storage nodes and non-volatile solid state storage then cooperate to recover and rebuild the data in at least partially new locations. This constitutes a proactive rebuild, in that the system rebuilds data without waiting until the data is needed for a read access initiated from a client system employing the storage cluster. These and further details of the storage memory and operation thereof are discussed below.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a storage cluster 160, with multiple storage nodes 150 and internal solid-state memory coupled to each storage node to provide network attached storage or storage area network, in accordance with some embodiments. A network attached storage, storage area network, or a storage cluster, or other storage memory, could include one or more storage clusters 160, each having one or more storage nodes 150, in a flexible and reconfigurable arrangement of both the physical components and the amount of storage memory provided thereby. The storage cluster 160 is designed to fit in a rack, and one or more racks can be set up and populated as desired for the storage memory. The storage cluster 160 has a chassis 138 having multiple slots 142. It should be appreciated that chassis 138 may be referred to as a housing, enclosure, or rack unit. In one embodiment, the chassis 138 has fourteen slots 142, although other numbers of slots are readily devised. For example, some embodiments have four slots, eight slots, sixteen slots, thirty-two slots, or other suitable number of slots. Each slot 142 can accommodate one storage node 150 in some embodiments. Chassis 138 includes flaps 148 that can be utilized to mount the chassis 138 on a rack. Fans 144 provide air circulation for cooling of the storage nodes 150 and components thereof, although other cooling components could be used, or an embodiment could be devised without cooling components. A switch fabric 146 couples storage nodes 150 within chassis 138 together and to a network for communication to the memory. In an embodiment depicted in FIG. 1, the slots 142 to the left of the switch fabric 146 and fans 144 are shown occupied by storage nodes 150, while the slots 142 to the right of the switch fabric 146 and fans 144 are empty and available for insertion of storage node 150 for illustrative purposes. This configuration is one example, and one or more storage nodes 150 could occupy the slots 142 in various further arrangements. The storage node arrangements need not be sequential or adjacent in some embodiments. Storage nodes 150 are hot pluggable, meaning that a storage node 150 can be inserted into a slot 142 in the chassis 138, or removed from a slot 142, without stopping or powering down the system. Upon insertion or removal of storage node 150 from slot 142, the system automatically reconfigures in order to recognize and adapt to the change. Reconfiguration, in some embodiments, includes restoring redundancy and/or rebalancing data or load.

Each storage node 150 can have multiple components. In the embodiment shown here, the storage node 150 includes a printed circuit board 158 populated by a CPU 156, i.e., processor, a memory 154 coupled to the CPU 156, and a non-volatile solid state storage 152 coupled to the CPU 156, although other mountings and/or components could be used in further embodiments. The memory 154 has instructions which are executed by the CPU 156 and/or data operated on by the CPU 156. As further explained below, the non-volatile solid state storage 152 includes flash or, in further embodiments, other types of solid-state memory.

Referring to FIG. 1, storage cluster 160 is scalable, meaning that storage capacity with non-uniform storage sizes is readily added, as described above. One or more storage nodes 150 can be plugged into or removed from each chassis and the storage cluster self-configures in some embodiments. Plug-in storage nodes 150, whether installed in a chassis as delivered or later added, can have different sizes. For example, in one embodiment a storage node 150 can have any multiple of 4 TB, e.g., 8 TB, 12 TB, 16 TB, 32 TB, etc. In further embodiments, a storage node 150 could have any multiple of other storage amounts or capacities. Storage capacity of each storage node 150 is broadcast, and influences decisions of how to stripe the data. For maximum storage efficiency, an embodiment can self-configure as wide as possible in the stripe, subject to a predetermined requirement of continued operation with loss of up to one, or up to two, non-volatile solid state storage units 152 or storage nodes 150 within the chassis.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a communications interconnect 170 and power distribution bus 172 coupling multiple storage nodes 150. Referring back to FIG. 1, the communications interconnect 170 can be included in or implemented with the switch fabric 146 in some embodiments. Where multiple storage clusters 160 occupy a rack, the communications interconnect 170 can be included in or implemented with a top of rack switch, in some embodiments. As illustrated in FIG. 2, storage cluster 160 is enclosed within a single chassis 138. External port 176 is coupled to storage nodes 150 through communications interconnect 170, while external port 174 is coupled directly to a storage node. External power port 178 is coupled to power distribution bus 172. Storage nodes 150 may include varying amounts and differing capacities of non-volatile solid state storage 152 as described with reference to FIG. 1. In addition, one or more storage nodes 150 may be a compute only storage node as illustrated in FIG. 2. Authorities 168 are implemented on the non-volatile solid state storages 152, for example as lists or other data structures stored in memory. In some embodiments the authorities are stored within the non-volatile solid state storage 152 and supported by software executing on a controller or other processor of the non-volatile solid state storage 152. In a further embodiment, authorities 168 are implemented on the storage nodes 150, for example as lists or other data structures stored in the memory 154 and supported by software executing on the CPU 156 of the storage node 150. Authorities 168 control how and where data is stored in the non-volatile solid state storages 152 in some embodiments. This control assists in determining which type of erasure coding scheme is applied to the data, and which storage nodes 150 have which portions of the data. Each authority 168 may be assigned to a non-volatile solid state storage 152. Each authority may control a range of inode numbers, segment numbers, or other data identifiers which are assigned to data by a file system, by the storage nodes 150, or by the non-volatile solid state storage 152, in various embodiments.

Every piece of data, and every piece of metadata, has redundancy in the system in some embodiments. In addition, every piece of data and every piece of metadata has an owner, which may be referred to as an authority. If that authority is unreachable, for example through failure of a storage node, there is a plan of succession for how to find that data or that metadata. In various embodiments, there are redundant copies of authorities 168. Authorities 168 have a relationship to storage nodes 150 and non-volatile solid state storage 152 in some embodiments. Each authority 168, covering a range of data segment numbers or other identifiers of the data, may be assigned to a specific non-volatile solid state storage 152. In some embodiments the authorities 168 for all of such ranges are distributed over the non-volatile solid state storages 152 of a storage cluster. Each storage node 150 has a network port that provides access to the non-volatile solid state storage(s) 152 of that storage node 150. Data can be stored in a segment, which is associated with a segment number and that segment number is an indirection for a configuration of a RAID (redundant array of independent disks) stripe in some embodiments. The assignment and use of the authorities 168 thus establishes an indirection to data. Indirection may be referred to as the ability to reference data indirectly, in this case via an authority 168, in accordance with some embodiments. A segment identifies a set of non-volatile solid state storage 152 and a local identifier into the set of non-volatile solid state storage 152 that may contain data. In some embodiments, the local identifier is an offset into the device and may be reused sequentially by multiple segments. In other embodiments the local identifier is unique for a specific segment and never reused. The offsets in the non-volatile solid state storage 152 are applied to locating data for writing to or reading from the non-volatile solid state storage 152 (in the form of a RAID stripe). Data is striped across multiple units of non-volatile solid state storage 152, which may include or be different from the non-volatile solid state storage 152 having the authority 168 for a particular data segment.

If there is a change in where a particular segment of data is located, e.g., during a data move or a data reconstruction, the authority 168 for that data segment should be consulted, at that non-volatile solid state storage 152 or storage node 150 having that authority 168. In order to locate a particular piece of data, embodiments calculate a hash value for a data segment or apply an inode number or a data segment number. The output of this operation points to a non-volatile solid state storage 152 having the authority 168 for that particular piece of data. In some embodiments there are two stages to this operation. The first stage maps an entity identifier (ID), e.g., a segment number, inode number, or directory number to an authority identifier. This mapping may include a calculation such as a hash or a bit mask. The second stage is mapping the authority identifier to a particular non-volatile solid state storage 152, which may be done through an explicit mapping. The operation is repeatable, so that when the calculation is performed, the result of the calculation repeatably and reliably points to a particular non-volatile solid state storage 152 having that authority 168. The operation may include the set of reachable storage nodes as input. If the set of reachable non-volatile solid state storage units changes the optimal set changes. In some embodiments, the persisted value is the current assignment (which is always true) and the calculated value is the target assignment the cluster will attempt to reconfigure towards. This calculation may be used to determine the optimal non-volatile solid state storage 152 for an authority in the presence of a set of non-volatile solid state storage 152 that are reachable and constitute the same cluster. The calculation also determines an ordered set of peer non-volatile solid state storage 152 that will also record the authority to non-volatile solid state storage mapping so that the authority may be determined even if the assigned non-volatile solid state storage is unreachable. A duplicate or substitute authority 168 may be consulted if a specific authority 168 is unavailable in some embodiments.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, two of the many tasks of the CPU 156 on a storage node 150 are to break up write data, and reassemble read data. When the system has determined that data is to be written, the authority 168 for that data is located as above. When the segment ID for data is already determined the request to write is forwarded to the non-volatile solid state storage 152 currently determined to be the host of the authority 168 determined from the segment. The host CPU 156 of the storage node 150, on which the non-volatile solid state storage 152 and corresponding authority 168 reside, then breaks up or shards the data and transmits the data out to various non-volatile solid state storage 152. The transmitted data is written as a data stripe in accordance with an erasure coding scheme. In some embodiments, data is requested to be pulled, and in other embodiments, data is pushed. In reverse, when data is read, the authority 168 for the segment ID containing the data is located as described above. The host CPU 156 of the storage node 150 on which the non-volatile solid state storage 152 and corresponding authority 168 reside requests the data from the non-volatile solid state storage and corresponding storage nodes pointed to by the authority. In some embodiments the data is read from flash storage as a data stripe. The host CPU 156 of storage node 150 then reassembles the read data, correcting any errors (if present) according to the appropriate erasure coding scheme, and forwards the reassembled data to the network. In further embodiments, some or all of these tasks can be handled in the non-volatile solid state storage 152. In some embodiments, the segment host requests the data be sent to storage node 150 by requesting pages from storage and then sending the data to the storage node making the original request.

In some systems, for example in UNIX-style file systems, data is handled with an index node or inode, which specifies a data structure that represents an object in a file system. The object could be a file or a directory, for example. Metadata may accompany the object, as attributes such as permission data and a creation timestamp, among other attributes. A segment number could be assigned to all or a portion of such an object in a file system. In other systems, data segments are handled with a segment number assigned elsewhere. For purposes of discussion, the unit of distribution is an entity, and an entity can be a file, a directory or a segment. That is, entities are units of data or metadata stored by a storage system. Entities are grouped into sets called authorities. Each authority has an authority owner, which is a storage node that has the exclusive right to update the entities in the authority. In other words, a storage node contains the authority, and that the authority, in turn, contains entities.

A segment is a logical container of data in accordance with some embodiments. A segment is an address space between medium address space and physical flash locations, i.e., the data segment number, are in this address space. Segments may also contain meta-data, which enable data redundancy to be restored (rewritten to different flash locations or devices) without the involvement of higher level software. In one embodiment, an internal format of a segment contains client data and medium mappings to determine the position of that data. Each data segment is protected, e.g., from memory and other failures, by breaking the segment into a number of data and parity shards, where applicable. The data and parity shards are distributed, i.e., striped, across non-volatile solid state storage 152 coupled to the host CPUs 156 (See FIG. 5) in accordance with an erasure coding scheme. Usage of the term segments refers to the container and its place in the address space of segments in some embodiments. Usage of the term stripe refers to the same set of shards as a segment and includes how the shards are distributed along with redundancy or parity information in accordance with some embodiments.

A series of address-space transformations takes place across an entire storage system. At the top are the directory entries (file names) which link to an inode. Inodes point into medium address space, where data is logically stored. Medium addresses may be mapped through a series of indirect mediums to spread the load of large files, or implement data services like deduplication or snapshots. Medium addresses may be mapped through a series of indirect mediums to spread the load of large files, or implement data services like deduplication or snapshots. Segment addresses are then translated into physical flash locations. Physical flash locations have an address range bounded by the amount of flash in the system in accordance with some embodiments. Medium addresses and segment addresses are logical containers, and in some embodiments use a 128 bit or larger identifier so as to be practically infinite, with a likelihood of reuse calculated as longer than the expected life of the system. Addresses from logical containers are allocated in a hierarchical fashion in some embodiments. Initially, each non-volatile solid state storage 152 may be assigned a range of address space. Within this assigned range, the non-volatile solid state storage 152 is able to allocate addresses without synchronization with other non-volatile solid state storage 152.

Data and metadata is stored by a set of underlying storage layouts that are optimized for varying workload patterns and storage devices. These layouts incorporate multiple redundancy schemes, compression formats and index algorithms. Some of these layouts store information about authorities and authority masters, while others store file metadata and file data. The redundancy schemes include error correction codes that tolerate corrupted bits within a single storage device (such as a NAND flash chip), erasure codes that tolerate the failure of multiple storage nodes, and replication schemes that tolerate data center or regional failures. In some embodiments, low density parity check (LDPC) code is used within a single storage unit. Reed-Solomon encoding is used within a storage cluster, and mirroring is used within a storage grid in some embodiments. Metadata may be stored using an ordered log structured index (such as a Log Structured Merge Tree), and large data may not be stored in a log structured layout.

In order to maintain consistency across multiple copies of an entity, the storage nodes agree implicitly on two things through calculations: (1) the authority that contains the entity, and (2) the storage node that contains the authority. The assignment of entities to authorities can be done by pseudo randomly assigning entities to authorities, by splitting entities into ranges based upon an externally produced key, or by placing a single entity into each authority. Examples of pseudorandom schemes are linear hashing and the Replication Under Scalable Hashing (RUSH) family of hashes, including Controlled Replication Under Scalable Hashing (CRUSH). In some embodiments, pseudo-random assignment is utilized only for assigning authorities to nodes because the set of nodes can change. The set of authorities cannot change so any subjective function may be applied in these embodiments. Some placement schemes automatically place authorities on storage nodes, while other placement schemes rely on an explicit mapping of authorities to storage nodes. In some embodiments, a pseudorandom scheme is utilized to map from each authority to a set of candidate authority owners. A pseudorandom data distribution function related to CRUSH may assign authorities to storage nodes and create a list of where the authorities are assigned. Each storage node has a copy of the pseudorandom data distribution function, and can arrive at the same calculation for distributing, and later finding or locating an authority. Each of the pseudorandom schemes requires the reachable set of storage nodes as input in some embodiments in order to conclude the same target nodes. Once an entity has been placed in an authority, the entity may be stored on physical devices so that no expected failure will lead to unexpected data loss. In some embodiments, rebalancing algorithms attempt to store the copies of all entities within an authority in the same layout and on the same set of machines.

Examples of expected failures include device failures, stolen machines, datacenter fires, and regional disasters, such as nuclear or geological events. Different failures lead to different levels of acceptable data loss. In some embodiments, a stolen storage node impacts neither the security nor the reliability of the system, while depending on system configuration, a regional event could lead to no loss of data, a few seconds or minutes of lost updates, or even complete data loss.

In the embodiments, the placement of data for storage redundancy is independent of the placement of authorities for data consistency. In some embodiments, storage nodes that contain authorities do not contain any persistent storage. Instead, the storage nodes are connected to non-volatile solid state storage units that do not contain authorities. The communications interconnect between storage nodes and non-volatile solid state storage units consists of multiple communication technologies and has non-uniform performance and fault tolerance characteristics. In some embodiments, as mentioned above, non-volatile solid state storage units are connected to storage nodes via PCI express, storage nodes are connected together within a single chassis using Ethernet backplane, and chassis are connected together to form a storage cluster. Storage clusters are connected to clients using Ethernet or fiber channel in some embodiments. If multiple storage clusters are configured into a storage grid, the multiple storage clusters are connected using the Internet or other long-distance networking links, such as a “metro scale” link or private link that does not traverse the internet.

Authority owners have the exclusive right to modify entities, to migrate entities from one non-volatile solid state storage unit to another non-volatile solid state storage unit, and to add and remove copies of entities. This allows for maintaining the redundancy of the underlying data. When an authority owner fails, is going to be decommissioned, or is overloaded, the authority is transferred to a new storage node. Transient failures make it non-trivial to ensure that all non-faulty machines agree upon the new authority location. The ambiguity that arises due to transient failures can be achieved automatically by a consensus protocol such as Paxos, hot-warm failover schemes, via manual intervention by a remote system administrator, or by a local hardware administrator (such as by physically removing the failed machine from the cluster, or pressing a button on the failed machine). In some embodiments, a consensus protocol is used, and failover is automatic. If too many failures or replication events occur in too short a time period, the system goes into a self-preservation mode and halts replication and data movement activities until an administrator intervenes in accordance with some embodiments.

As authorities are transferred between storage nodes and authority owners update entities in their authorities, the system transfers messages between the storage nodes and non-volatile solid state storage units. With regard to persistent messages, messages that have different purposes are of different types. Depending on the type of the message, the system maintains different ordering and durability guarantees. As the persistent messages are being processed, the messages are temporarily stored in multiple durable and non-durable storage hardware technologies. In some embodiments, messages are stored in RAM, NVRAM and on NAND flash devices, and a variety of protocols are used in order to make efficient use of each storage medium. Latency-sensitive client requests may be persisted in replicated NVRAM, and then later NAND, while background rebalancing operations are persisted directly to NAND.

Persistent messages are persistently stored prior to being replicated. This allows the system to continue to serve client requests despite failures and component replacement. Although many hardware components contain unique identifiers that are visible to system administrators, manufacturer, hardware supply chain and ongoing monitoring quality control infrastructure, applications running on top of the infrastructure address virtualize addresses. These virtualized addresses do not change over the lifetime of the storage system, regardless of component failures and replacements. This allows each component of the storage system to be replaced over time without reconfiguration or disruptions of client request processing.

In some embodiments, the virtualized addresses are stored with sufficient redundancy. A continuous monitoring system correlates hardware and software status and the hardware identifiers. This allows detection and prediction of failures due to faulty components and manufacturing details. The monitoring system also enables the proactive transfer of authorities and entities away from impacted devices before failure occurs by removing the component from the critical path in some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a multiple level block diagram, showing contents of a storage node 150 and contents of a non-volatile solid state storage 152 of the storage node 150. Data is communicated to and from the storage node 150 by a network interface controller (NIC) 202 in some embodiments. Each storage node 150 has a CPU 156, and one or more non-volatile solid state storage 152, as discussed above. Moving down one level in FIG. 3, each non-volatile solid state storage 152 has a relatively fast non-volatile solid state memory, such as nonvolatile random access memory (NVRAM) 204, and flash memory 206. In some embodiments, NVRAM 204 may be a component that does not require program/erase cycles (DRAM, MRAM, PCM), and can be a memory that can support being written vastly more often than the memory is read from. Moving down another level in FIG. 3, the NVRAM 204 is implemented in one embodiment as high speed volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM) 216, backed up by energy reserve 218. Energy reserve 218 provides sufficient electrical power to keep the DRAM 216 powered long enough for contents to be transferred to the flash memory 206 in the event of power failure. In some embodiments, energy reserve 218 is a capacitor, super-capacitor, battery, or other device, that supplies a suitable supply of energy sufficient to enable the transfer of the contents of DRAM 216 to a stable storage medium in the case of power loss. The flash memory 206 is implemented as multiple flash dies 222, which may be referred to as packages of flash dies 222 or an array of flash dies 222. It should be appreciated that the flash dies 222 could be packaged in any number of ways, with a single die per package, multiple dies per package (i.e. multichip packages), in hybrid packages, as bare dies on a printed circuit board or other substrate, as encapsulated dies, etc. In the embodiment shown, the non-volatile solid state storage 152 has a controller 212 or other processor, and an input output (I/O) port 210 coupled to the controller 212. I/O port 210 is coupled to the CPU 156 and/or the network interface controller 202 of the flash storage node 150. Flash input output (I/O) port 220 is coupled to the flash dies 222, and a direct memory access unit (DMA) 214 is coupled to the controller 212, the DRAM 216 and the flash dies 222. In the embodiment shown, the I/O port 210, controller 212, DMA unit 214 and flash I/O port 220 are implemented on a programmable logic device (PLD) 208, e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA). In this embodiment, each flash die 222 has pages, organized as sixteen kB (kilobyte) pages 224, and a register 226 through which data can be written to or read from the flash die 222. In further embodiments, other types of solid-state memory are used in place of, or in addition to flash memory illustrated within flash die 222.

Storage cluster 160, in various embodiments as disclosed herein, can be contrasted with storage arrays in general. The storage nodes 150 are part of a collection that creates the storage cluster 160. Each storage node 150 owns a slice of data and computing required to provide the data. Multiple storage nodes 150 cooperate to store and retrieve the data. Storage memory or storage devices, as used in storage arrays in general, are less involved with processing and manipulating the data. Storage memory or storage devices in a storage array receive commands to read, write, or erase data. The storage memory or storage devices in a storage array are not aware of a larger system in which they are embedded, or what the data means. Storage memory or storage devices in storage arrays can include various types of storage memory, such as RAM, solid state drives, hard disk drives, etc. The storage units 152 described herein have multiple interfaces active simultaneously and serving multiple purposes. In some embodiments, some of the functionality of a storage node 150 is shifted into a storage unit 152, transforming the storage unit 152 into a combination of storage unit 152 and storage node 150. Placing computing (relative to storage data) into the storage unit 152 places this computing closer to the data itself. The various system embodiments have a hierarchy of storage node layers with different capabilities. By contrast, in a storage array, a controller owns and knows everything about all of the data that the controller manages in a shelf or storage devices. In a storage cluster 160, as described herein, multiple controllers in multiple storage units 152 and/or storage nodes 150 cooperate in various ways (e.g., for erasure coding, data sharing, metadata communication and redundancy, storage capacity expansion or contraction, data recovery, and so on).

FIG. 4 is a task diagram, showing tasks that an authority 168, belonging to a storage node 150, performs in support of an operation 402 for updating the NVRAM 204 of a storage unit 152. The storage node 150 initiates an operation 402 to update the NVRAM 204, or another form of memory in various embodiments, of the storage unit 152, for example to write to or read from storage memory of the storage unit 152. The operation 402 is directed by an authority 168 that has ownership over the data pertaining to the operation 402. In order to support parallel updates to the NVRAM 204, rather than limiting the system to performing an operation, waiting for the operation to complete, and then starting another operation, the authority 168 assigns a sequence number 404 to the operation 402. This allows multiple operations 402, each having a unique sequence number 404, to be “in-flight” (i.e., in progress) in parallel at a given moment or span of time. This task is shown as “1 SEQUENCE NUMBER” in the task diagram. Sequence numbers 404 identify data to be stored in a storage system (e.g., data to be written), or data that is stored in the storage system (e.g., data to be read). A sequence number 404 is an identifier of a payload that is sent by an authority 168 of a storage node 150 to a storage unit 152 for the operation 402, and that payload can include data to be written and information about such data, or information about data to be read. It should be appreciated that sequence numbers 404 may be embodied as any suitable identifier and are not limited to sequence numbers.

For purposes of redundancy and fault tolerance, the authority 168 locates a set of devices, namely a set of storage nodes 150 or a set of storage units 152, to which to send the information regarding the operation 402. By sending this information to multiple storage nodes 150 or storage units 152, the authority 168 assures that the information resides at multiple locations and can be recovered if one, or two, of the locations experiences a failure. Since the information is redundant, the system has a measure of fault tolerance. This task is shown as “2 LOCATE SET OF DEVICES TO INSERT INFORMATION REGARDING OPERATION” in the task diagram. Once the set of devices is located, the authority 168 sends this information (regarding the operation 402) to the devices so identified. In various embodiments, the authority 168 sends the information to storage nodes 150 or storage units 152. This task is shown as “3 SEND INFORMATION REGARDING OPERATION” in the task diagram.

Once the third task is completed, i.e., sending the information to all members of the set of devices, the authority 168 communicates with the storage unit 152 that is selected for performing the operation 402, and that storage unit 152 acknowledges that the operation 402 is committed. For example, the storage unit 152 could send a message acknowledging that the operation 402 is committed. This task is shown as “4 ONLY AFTER 3, ACKNOWLEDGE (COMMITTED)” in the task diagram, FIG. 4. Tasks 1-4 are shown in an example in FIG. 5. In one embodiment, the authority 168 sends a sequence number and an address of the data affected by a read or write operation 402 as the information regarding the operation 402.

FIG. 5 illustrates sequence numbers 404 and read dependencies 502, which an authority 168 develops in support of operations 402 and routes to storage nodes 150 and storage units 152, where the sequence numbers 404 and read dependencies 502 are recorded. As an example, the sequence numbers 1 through 10 have already been acknowledged by whichever storage unit 152 or storage units 152 is or are performing the committed operations 402 associated with these sequence numbers 404, or other suitable identifier, and an authority 168 is now sending the eleventh sequence number 404, shown as “SEQUENCE #11” with a read dependency 502 on “SEQUENCE NUMBER 10”. The read dependency 502 is shown as “RD 10”. The reason the eleventh sequence number 404 has a read dependency 502 on the tenth sequence number 404 is that, at the time of issuing the eleventh sequence number 404, the highest sequence number 404 that has been acknowledged as committed is the tenth sequence number 404. Read dependency 502 of a sequence number 404 is determined prior to sending the sequence number 404 in some embodiments. In this example, the authority 168 sends the eleventh sequence number 404, with the read dependency 502 on the tenth sequence number 404, to three storage nodes 150, each of which stores this information in a respective storage unit 152 in the storage node 150. This is depicted in FIG. 5 as the upper three storage units 152 having the number “11” as a sequence number 404.

Continuing with the example of FIG. 5, the authority 168 sends a twelfth sequence number 404, shown as “SEQUENCE #12”, with a read dependency 502 on the tenth sequence number 404 to a different set of three storage nodes 150 and corresponding storage units 152. However, the storage units 152 have not yet recorded this information, in FIG. 5. At the time of establishing the twelfth sequence number 404 and declaring the read dependency 502 of the twelfth sequence number 404, the tenth sequence number 404 is the highest sequence number 404 that has been acknowledged. The authority 168 continues establishing sequence numbers 404, up to and including the twentieth sequence number 404, shown as “SEQUENCE #20”. The twentieth sequence number 404 has a read dependency 502 on the fourteenth sequence number 404, which is shown as “RD 14”, since at the time of establishing twentieth sequence number 404, the fourteenth sequence number 404 is the highest sequence number 404 that has been acknowledged. Some of the sequence numbers 404, e.g., “15”, “17”, “19” and “20” are shown in some of the storage units 152. One of the storage units 152 shows a trim record 504, for example “−18” in the middle storage unit 152, which will be further discussed below. It should be appreciated that all of these numbers are by example only, and actual numbers used in the storage cluster 160 or storage system for sequence number 404 and trim records 504 are not constrained by these examples.

FIG. 6 illustrates missing sequence numbers 602 and trim records 504 that indicate missing sequence numbers 602, as can be used in determining various aspects for system health and recovery. An example sequence is shown as sequence numbers 404 “11 . . . 15, 17, 19, 20”. Numbers “16” and “18” are missing sequence numbers 602 in the example sequence of sequence numbers 404, i.e., the numbers“16” and “18” do not exist in the example sequence of sequence numbers 404. The system notes this by declaring trim records 504, shown in FIG. 6 as “−16” and “−18”. For example, the trim record 504 “−16” indicates that the number “16” is a missing sequence number 602, and the trim record 504 “−18” indicates that the number “18” is a missing sequence number 602. With reference to FIGS. 4-6, the following scenarios show how storage nodes 150 and storage units 152, e.g., processors in these, make use of sequence number 404, read dependencies 502 and trim records 504 in determinations of system health and in system recovery of a storage cluster 160. Consider that, in the course of performing multiple, perhaps overlapping, operations 402, an authority 168 may have issued multiple sequence numbers 404, but at any moment in time only some of these have been acknowledged as committed. If the system experiences a failure or power interruption, it is a goal of the system to determine whether the system is coherent or corrupted. That is, the system should determine whether the records of sequence numbers 404 and trim records 504 are consistent or valid or whether the records of sequence numbers 404 and trim records 504 can be reconciled to consistency, or not. Records of sequence numbers 404 and trim records 504 that are consistent or can be reconciled to consistency indicate system coherency or validity, and records of sequence numbers 404 and trim records 504 that are inconsistent and cannot be reconciled to consistency indicate possible corruption. This corruption could be not only of the sequence numbers 404 and trim records 504, but could possibly extend to the system state and stored data. The system can thus determine whether stored data corresponding to the records of sequence numbers 404 is valid, based on the records of the sequence numbers 404 (or records of other suitable identifiers) and the trim records 504.

In one scenario, the storage cluster 160 experiences a failure, for example a failure of a storage node 150 which becomes unreachable. Or, a power failure occurs, and the system is restarted. Responding to a determination of failure, a restart, or other trigger event, whichever storage nodes 150 are functioning query each other, or query storage units 152, and gather available information about sequence numbers 404, read dependencies 502 and trim records 504. Since this information is redundantly recorded, e.g., in multiple storage units 152 and in multiple storage nodes 150 as a type of fault tolerance, the storage nodes 150 collectively should be able to gather the information even if one, or two, of the storage nodes 150 are unreachable. In various embodiments, the storage nodes 150 share the gathered information to provide each available storage node 150 the same “world view” of the gathered information. In some embodiments, the storage units 152 perform this analysis. In some embodiments, the analysis is shared by storage nodes 150 and storage units 152.

One or more of the storage nodes 150, or one or more of the storage units 152 in some embodiments, analyzes the set of sequence numbers 404, the read dependencies 502 and the trim records 504. If a missing sequence number 602 is determined from the set of sequence numbers 404, i.e., if a sequence number 404 does not exist in the set of sequence numbers 404, the storage node 150 determines whether a trim record 504 indicates the missing sequence number 602. If no such trim record 504 is found, the storage node 150 determines whether any sequence number 404 in the set of sequence numbers 404 has a read dependency 502 that references a later sequence number 404 than the missing sequence number 602. If all read dependencies 502 associated with sequence numbers 404 from the set of sequence numbers 404 reference sequence numbers 404 earlier than the missing sequence number 602, the storage node 150 writes the missing sequence number 602 to a storage unit 152 in the storage node 150 as a trim record 504. The trim record 504 indicates that the missing sequence number 602 is allowed to not exist in the records of sequence numbers 404, consistent with the read dependencies 502. If later found, a sequence number 404 corresponding to a trim record 504 can safely be ignored without concern regarding corruption. From the set of sequence numbers 404, the storage nodes 150 and/or the storage units 152 determine the latest sequence number 404 to which the storage system can be rolled forward in recovery, e.g., from power interruption or failure, in some embodiments. The trim records 504, which specify sequence numbers 404 that are allowed to be missing from the set of sequence numbers 404, i.e., specify missing sequence numbers 602, provide information which the storage nodes 150 and/or the storage units 152 consider in determining this latest sequence number 404.

In the example shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, if the nineteenth sequence number 404 has a read dependency on the fifteenth or earlier sequence number 404, then the sixteenth sequence number 404 can be declared a missing sequence number 602, and an authority 168 can write this as a trim record 504. Then, since the record of sequence numbers 404 and the trim records 504 are consistent all the way up through the twentieth sequence number 404, the storage nodes 150 and/or the storage units 152 determine that the system is coherent, i.e., the record of sequence numbers 404 and the trim records 504 are valid and indicating the updates are corrupt-free and the storage system can be recovered without concern about corruption. That is, consistent records exist within the system to verify aspects of data and system state up to the twentieth sequence number 404. As noted above, consistency among the sequence numbers 404 and the trim records 504 indicates corruption-free updates have been made to data within the storage units 152.

On the other hand, if the nineteenth sequence number 404 has a read dependency on the seventeenth or later sequence number, and no trim record 504 is found for the sixteenth sequence number 404, and no trim record 504 can be established for the sixteenth sequence number 404 as a missing sequence number 602, then the system is possibly corrupt as of the twentieth sequence number 404. For example, in this scenario, the seventeenth sequence number 404 could have a read dependency on the sixteenth sequence number 404, which would not allow the writing of a trim record 504 for the sixteenth sequence number 404. In other words, it would not be acceptable for the system to declare that it is acceptable for the sixteenth sequence number 404 to be a missing sequence number 602. In such a scenario, the system has no way of knowing or guaranteeing that the read dependency of the nineteenth sequence number 404 is satisfied among the known records of sequence numbers 404 and trim records 504.

A storage unit 152 that is uncommunicative for a time could be readmitted to the storage system (e.g., to the storage cluster 160). To do so, the storage nodes 150 and/or the storage units 152 could gather a set of sequence numbers 404 as stored in the storage units 152, including the readmitted storage unit 152. Next, the storage nodes 150 and/or the storage units 152 would determine any trim records 504 among the set of sequence numbers 404. Based on this information, the storage nodes 150 and/or the storage units 152 would determine whether the set of sequence numbers 404 (or other suitable set of identifiers) and trim records 504 of that storage unit 152 are consistent with each other and consistent with sequence numbers 404 and trim records 504 stored and/or determined with other storage units 152. If so, the storage unit 152 can be readmitted without concern for corruption.

In some embodiments, the storage nodes 150 and/or the storage units 152 can insert forward trim records 504. While the trim records 504 described above are for sequence numbers 404 (or other suitable identifiers) that are allowed to not exist in the system, forward trim records 504 are for sequence numbers 404 that could have been sent out immediately prior to a loss of power or a system crash. In other words, regular trim records 504 cover holes or gaps between sequence numbers 404 in reverse time, and forward trim records 504 cover holes or gaps between sequence numbers 404 in forward time. Forward trim records 504 indicate sequence numbers (or other suitable identifiers) later than the latest sequence number that has been acknowledged, and which are allowed to not be present in the storage system. Consider that, at any given moment, a predetermined maximum number K of sequence numbers 404 could be concurrently “in-flight”, e.g., for some number N of sequence numbers 404 that have been sent out and acknowledged, there could be K more sequence numbers 404 that have been sent out and not yet acknowledged. When the system powers up again after a power loss, or restarts after a crash, and finds that N sequence numbers 404 (or other suitable identifiers) have been acknowledged, the system needs to guard against the possibility of producing duplicate sequence numbers 404 (or other suitable identifiers) in the range between N and N+K, inclusive. The storage nodes 150 and/or the storage units 152 can insert forward trim records 504 covering sequence numbers 404 in this range. Then, the next sequence number 404 (or other suitable identifier) that can be issued by an authority 168 would be N+K+1, i.e., later than or after the latest sequence number 404 in the forward trim records 504. If one of the storage units 152 is later readmitted and found to have a sequence number 404 in the range between N and N+K, inclusive, this will not be a sequence number 404 that is duplicated by another sequence number 404 that was issued between the time the system recovered and the time that storage unit 152 is readmitted, as such is prevented by the forward trim records 504. Even though there may be gaps between sequence numbers 404 (or other suitable identifiers), coherency is preserved. Forward trim records 504 cover what sequence numbers 404 might have been sent out. The predetermined number K should be chosen to cover the maximum such number. For example, if sequence numbers 404 up to one hundred have been acknowledged, and ten more sequence numbers could be “in-flight”, the system could issue forward trim records 504 of “−101, −102, −103, −104, −105, −106, −107, −108, −109, and −110”. The next sequence number 404 that could be issued would be 111.

To support recovery of information in case of power loss, some embodiments function as follows. Each storage node 150 receiving a sequence number 404 and accompanying read dependency 502 stores such information in the NVRAM 204 (e.g., a type of RAM with super capacitor or battery backup, etc., as backup power) of a storage unit 152 of the storage node 150 (see FIG. 3). Updates, relating to the operation 402 (see FIG. 4) are recorded in the NVRAM 204. The storage unit 152 performs updates to the flash memory or other storage memory of the storage unit 152 based on the updates recorded in the NVRAM 204. If power fails, the storage unit 152 writes the contents of the NVRAM 204 to flash memory or other storage memory of the storage unit 152 during a time span supported by the backup power. Upon restoration of power, the storage unit 152 reads the flash memory or other storage memory, and assists the storage node 150 in recovering relevant information, such as the sequence numbers 404, read dependencies 502 and trim records 504 discussed above.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a method for updates in a storage system, which supports parallel update to NVRAM of storage units. The method can be practiced by processors in a storage system, such as processors in storage clusters, storage nodes or storage units. In an action 702, for operations involving update to storage units, sequence numbers and read dependencies are established. For example, authorities in storage nodes establish sequence numbers (or other suitable identifiers) and read dependencies of the sequence numbers in some embodiments. The sequence numbers and read dependencies are sent to multiple storage nodes or multiple storage units, in an action 704. It should be appreciated that this mechanism creates redundant records of sequence numbers (or other suitable identifiers), for fault tolerance and system analysis and recovery. In an action 706, it is determined whether a system recovery should take place. If there is nothing to trigger a system recovery, and the answer to the determination is no, flow proceeds back to the action 702, in order to continue performing operations involving updates to storage units. If there is a system recovery, flow proceeds to the decision action 708.

In the decision action 708, it is determined whether a missing sequence number or numbers are consistent with read dependencies in the sequence numbers. If the determination is that there is a missing sequence number that is not consistent with the read dependencies, the system can declare possible corruption as the data may be invalid, in an action 710. The dashed line arrow descending from the action 710 is symbolic of the situation that the flow could proceed to an endpoint, a restart, a recovery, or other action, in various embodiments. If the determination in the decision action 708 is that any missing sequence number(s) are consistent with the read dependencies of the sequence numbers, i.e., the records of sequence numbers to this point are valid and the updates are corrupt-free, flow proceeds to the action 712. In the action 712, one or more trim records are written, for one or more missing sequence numbers. For example, the trim records can be written into the storage units of a storage node. In an action 714, forward trim records are written. Operations are resumed at the next sequence number, after the forward trim records, in the action 716.

In a decision action 718, it is determined whether to readmit a storage unit. If there is no need or decision to readmit a storage unit, flow proceeds back to the action 702, in order to continue performing operations involving update to storage units. If a storage unit is to be readmitted, flow proceeds to the decision action 720. In the decision action 720, it is determined whether the sequence numbers (or other suitable identifiers) of the readmitted storage unit are consistent with the sequence numbers and trim records in the remainder of the system. If the sequence numbers of the readmitted storage unit are consistent with the sequence numbers and trim records of the system, the flow proceeds back to the action 702, in order to continue performing operations involving update to the storage unit. If the sequence numbers of the readmitted storage unit are not consistent with the sequence numbers and trim records of the system, flow proceeds to the action 710, and the system can declare possible corruption.

It should be appreciated that the methods described herein may be performed with a digital processing system, such as a conventional, general-purpose computer system. Special purpose computers, which are designed or programmed to perform only one function may be used in the alternative. FIG. 8 is an illustration showing an exemplary computing device which may implement the embodiments described herein. The computing device of FIG. 8 may be used to perform embodiments of the functionality for storage clusters, storage nodes and storage units in accordance with some embodiments. The computing device includes a central processing unit (CPU) 801, which is coupled through a bus 805 to a memory 803, and mass storage device 807. Mass storage device 807 represents a persistent data storage device such as a disc drive, which may be local or remote in some embodiments. The mass storage device 807 could implement a backup storage, in some embodiments. Memory 803 may include read only memory, random access memory, etc. Applications resident on the computing device may be stored on or accessed via a computer readable medium such as memory 803 or mass storage device 807 in some embodiments. Applications may also be in the form of modulated electronic signals modulated accessed via a network modem or other network interface of the computing device. It should be appreciated that CPU 801 may be embodied in a general-purpose processor, a special purpose processor, or a specially programmed logic device in some embodiments.

Display 811 is in communication with CPU 801, memory 803, and mass storage device 807, through bus 805. Display 811 is configured to display any visualization tools or reports associated with the system described herein. Input/output device 809 is coupled to bus 805 in order to communicate information in command selections to CPU 801. It should be appreciated that data to and from external devices may be communicated through the input/output device 809. CPU 801 can be defined to execute the functionality described herein to enable the functionality described with reference to FIGS. 1-7. The code embodying this functionality may be stored within memory 803 or mass storage device 807 for execution by a processor such as CPU 801 in some embodiments. The operating system on the computing device may be MS-WINDOWS™, UNIX™, LINUX™, IOS™, CentOS™, Android™, Redhat Linux™, z/OS™, or other known operating systems. It should be appreciated that the embodiments described herein may be integrated with virtualized computing system also.

Detailed illustrative embodiments are disclosed herein. However, specific functional details disclosed herein are merely representative for purposes of describing embodiments. Embodiments may, however, be embodied in many alternate forms and should not be construed as limited to only the embodiments set forth herein. As noted above the embodiments are not limited to sequence numbers as other suitable identifiers may be utilized in place of sequence numbers.

It should be understood that although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various steps or calculations, these steps or calculations should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one step or calculation from another. For example, a first calculation could be termed a second calculation, and, similarly, a second step could be termed a first step, without departing from the scope of this disclosure. As used herein, the term “and/or” and the “/” symbol includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “includes”, and/or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. Therefore, the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting.

It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions/acts noted may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two figures shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved.

With the above embodiments in mind, it should be understood that the embodiments might employ various computer-implemented operations involving data stored in computer systems. These operations are those requiring physical manipulation of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. Further, the manipulations performed are often referred to in terms, such as producing, identifying, determining, or comparing. Any of the operations described herein that form part of the embodiments are useful machine operations. The embodiments also relate to a device or an apparatus for performing these operations. The apparatus can be specially constructed for the required purpose, or the apparatus can be a general-purpose computer selectively activated or configured by a computer program stored in the computer. In particular, various general-purpose machines can be used with computer programs written in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may be more convenient to construct a more specialized apparatus to perform the required operations.

A module, an application, a layer, an agent or other method-operable entity could be implemented as hardware, firmware, or a processor executing software, or combinations thereof. It should be appreciated that, where a software-based embodiment is disclosed herein, the software can be embodied in a physical machine such as a controller. For example, a controller could include a first module and a second module. A controller could be configured to perform various actions, e.g., of a method, an application, a layer or an agent.

The embodiments can also be embodied as computer readable code on a non-transitory computer readable medium. The computer readable medium is any data storage device that can store data, which can be thereafter read by a computer system. Examples of the computer readable medium include hard drives, network attached storage (NAS), read-only memory, random-access memory, CD-ROMs, CD-Rs, CD-RWs, magnetic tapes, and other optical and non-optical data storage devices. The computer readable medium can also be distributed over a network coupled computer system so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion. Embodiments described herein may be practiced with various computer system configurations including hand-held devices, tablets, microprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers and the like. The embodiments can also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a wire-based or wireless network.

Although the method operations were described in a specific order, it should be understood that other operations may be performed in between described operations, described operations may be adjusted so that they occur at slightly different times or the described operations may be distributed in a system which allows the occurrence of the processing operations at various intervals associated with the processing.

In various embodiments, one or more portions of the methods and mechanisms described herein may form part of a cloud-computing environment. In such embodiments, resources may be provided over the Internet as services according to one or more various models. Such models may include Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). In IaaS, computer infrastructure is delivered as a service. In such a case, the computing equipment is generally owned and operated by the service provider. In the PaaS model, software tools and underlying equipment used by developers to develop software solutions may be provided as a service and hosted by the service provider. SaaS typically includes a service provider licensing software as a service on demand. The service provider may host the software, or may deploy the software to a customer for a given period of time. Numerous combinations of the above models are possible and are contemplated.

Various units, circuits, or other components may be described or claimed as “configured to” perform a task or tasks. In such contexts, the phrase “configured to” is used to connote structure by indicating that the units/circuits/components include structure (e.g., circuitry) that performs the task or tasks during operation. As such, the unit/circuit/component can be said to be configured to perform the task even when the specified unit/circuit/component is not currently operational (e.g., is not on). The units/circuits/components used with the “configured to” language include hardware—for example, circuits, memory storing program instructions executable to implement the operation, etc. Reciting that a unit/circuit/component is “configured to” perform one or more tasks is expressly intended not to invoke 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, for that unit/circuit/component. Additionally, “configured to” can include generic structure (e.g., generic circuitry) that is manipulated by software and/or firmware (e.g., an FPGA or a general-purpose processor executing software) to operate in manner that is capable of performing the task(s) at issue. “Configured to” may also include adapting a manufacturing process (e.g., a semiconductor fabrication facility) to fabricate devices (e.g., integrated circuits) that are adapted to implement or perform one or more tasks.

The foregoing description, for the purpose of explanation, has been described with reference to specific embodiments. However, the illustrative discussions above are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the embodiments and its practical applications, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the embodiments and various modifications as may be suited to the particular use contemplated. Accordingly, the present embodiments are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive, and the invention is not to be limited to the details given herein, but may be modified within the scope and equivalents of the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for updates in a storage system, comprising: writing identifiers, associated with data to be stored, to storage units of the storage system; and writing trim records, indicative of identifiers that are allowed to not exist in the storage system, to the storage units; determining whether the stored data corresponding to records of identifiers is valid based on the records of the identifiers and the trim records, and gathering a set of sequence numbers as stored in storage units; determining, from the set of sequence numbers, a latest sequence number that has been acknowledged; and inserting at least one forward trim record that indicates a sequence number later than the latest sequence number is allowed to not be present in the storage system.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: identifying a set of identifiers as stored in storage units of the storage system; determining a missing identifier that is absent from the set of identifiers; determining whether a read dependency associated with an identifier in the set of identifiers references a later identifier than the missing identifier; and writing the missing identifier as a trim record to a storage unit of the storage system, responsive to a determination that all read dependencies associated with identifiers from the set of identifiers reference identifiers earlier than the missing identifiers.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: restarting the storage system responsive to a power interruption.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein acknowledging a sequence number occurs after the sequence number is sent to all storage nodes of the storage system to which the sequence number is to be sent.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: associating a read dependency with an identifier, wherein the read dependency indicates a last identifier that was acknowledged prior to sending the identifier.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: assigning an identifier to a portion of user data to be stored in the storage system; and sending the identifier, with information regarding the portion of user data and with a read dependency, to at least two storage nodes of the storage system, wherein each storage node receiving the identifier and the information stores the identifier and the information in RAM (random access memory).
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: readmitting a storage unit to the storage system; gathering a set of identifiers as stored in storage units of the storage system, including the readmitted storage unit; determining a trim record among the set of identifiers; and determining whether or not the readmitted storage unit is corrupted, based upon the set of identifiers and the trim record.
 8. A method for updates in a storage system, comprising: writing to memory of one of a plurality of storage nodes a plurality of identifiers that identify data relative to updates to one or more storage units of the storage system; writing one or more trim records to the memory, each of the one or more trim records indicating an identifier that is allowed to not exist, wherein the plurality of identifiers and the one or more trim records, in combination with identifiers and trim records of others of the plurality of storage nodes, indicates whether any storage units of the storage system includes corrupted data, reading a set of sequence numbers; generating at least one forward trim record, based on the set of sequence numbers and the one or more trim records; and resuming operation with a next sequence number that is later than the at least one forward trim record.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: accessing a set of identifiers in the storage system; locating a missing identifier relative to the set of identifiers; determining whether all read dependencies in the set of identifiers reference sequence numbers earlier than the missing identifier; and writing the missing identifier as a trim record responsive to determining that all of the read dependencies in the set of identifiers reference identifiers earlier than the missing identifier.
 10. The method of claim 8, further comprising: recovering the storage system responsive to a power interruption.
 11. The method of claim 8, further comprising: determining a read dependency as a most recent identifier that was acknowledged prior to sending a next identifier.
 12. The method of claim 8, further comprising: assigning the plurality of sequence numbers to operations regarding storage of user data; and sending the plurality of sequence numbers, with information regarding the operations, and read dependencies of the sequence numbers, to the plurality of storage nodes, wherein each storage node receiving a sequence number stores the sequence number and corresponding information regarding an operation and a read dependency.
 13. The method of claim 8, further comprising: determining identifiers and trim records from the plurality of storage nodes; readmitting a storage unit or a storage node having the storage unit to the storage system; determining a set of identifiers, from the readmitted storage unit; and determining whether the set of identifiers from the readmitted storage unit is consistent with the identifiers and the trim records from the plurality of storage nodes.
 14. A storage cluster, comprising: a plurality of storage nodes coupled together as the storage cluster; a plurality of storage units, each having storage memory; the plurality of storage nodes configured to record identifiers that identify data for updates to the plurality of storage units; and the plurality of storage nodes configured to record trim records indicating which identifiers are allowed to not exist, wherein consistency among the identifiers and the trim records indicates corrupt-free updates to data within the plurality of storage units; the plurality of storage nodes are configured to perform actions comprising: determining a set of sequence numbers from storage units of the storage cluster; determining one or more trim records from the set of sequence numbers, wherein each of the one or more trim records specifies a sequence number that can be ignored; and determining forward trim records, based on a latest sequence number that has been acknowledged.
 15. The storage cluster of claim 14, wherein each of the plurality of storage nodes is configured to perform actions comprising: determining a set of identifiers from storage units of the storage cluster; determining, from the set of identifiers, a missing identifier; analyzing read dependencies in the set of identifiers relative to the missing identifier; and instructing one of the storage units of the storage cluster to write a trim record, referencing the missing identifier, into random-access memory (RAM) of the one of the storage units, responsive to the analyzing.
 16. The storage cluster of claim 14, wherein the plurality of storage nodes are configured to perform actions comprising: determining a set of sequence numbers from storage units of the storage cluster is responsive to a failure.
 17. The storage cluster of claim 14, wherein each of the plurality of storage nodes is configured to perform actions comprising: determining a first sequence number as a read dependency of a second sequence number, prior to sending the second sequence number; and sending the second sequence number along with information regarding the first sequence number as the read dependency of the second sequence number.
 18. The storage cluster of claim 14, wherein the plurality of storage nodes are further configured to perform actions comprising: generating identifiers for operations involving storage of user data in the storage cluster; and communicating each identifier, with read dependency and information regarding an operation, to at least a subset of the plurality of storage nodes, wherein each storage node receiving such an identifier stores the identifier with the read dependency and the information regarding the operation in random access memory (RAM) in a storage unit of the storage node.
 19. The storage cluster of claim 14, wherein the storage cluster is contained within a single chassis and.
 20. The storage cluster of claim 14, wherein each of the plurality of storage nodes includes random-access memory (RAM) that includes non-volatile random-access memory (NVRAM), which has one of battery backup, or a super capacitor, and wherein the updates are recorded in the NVRAM. 